THE WHALE IN MY SWIMMING POOL
A teacher’s guide created by Marcie Colleen based upon the picture book
written and illustrated by Joyce Wan
Published by
Farrar Straus Giroux | Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
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Joyce Wan Author-Illustrator, The Whale in My Swimming Pool Joyce Wan is inspired by Japanese pop culture, modern architecture, and things that make her
smile. She is the author and illustrator of several board books, including You Are My Cupcake and My Lucky Little Dragon. The Whale in My Swimming Pool is her debut picture book. Joyce lives in New York City with her husband. Visit her at
www.wanart.com.
This guide was created by Marcie Colleen, a former teacher with a BA in English
Education from Oswego State and a MA in Educational Theater from NYU. In addition
to creating curriculum guides for children’s books, Marcie can often be found writing
picture books of her own at home in Brooklyn, NYC. Visit her at
www.thisismarciecolleen.com.
Guide content copyright © 2015 by Marcie Colleen. Available free of charge for educational use
only; may not be published or sold without express written permission.
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How to Use This Guide
This classroom guide for The Whale in My Swimming Pool is designed for students in
kindergarten through second grade. It is assumed that teachers will adapt each activity
to fit the needs and abilities of their own students.
It offers activities to help teachers integrate The Whale in My Swimming Pool into
English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies curricula. Art and
drama are used as a teaching tool throughout the guide.
All activities were created in conjunction with relevant content standards in ELA, math,
science, social studies, art, and drama.
Book Information
THE WHALE IN MY SWIMMING POOL
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR
Published: April 7, 2015
ISBN-10: 0374300372
ISBN-13: 978-0374300371
One sunny day, a little boy heads outside for a swim, but his pool is already taken . . . There's a big whale in the water and it's not budging!
The boy tries everything to get the whale to leave. Nothing seems to work. Not fetch. Not tag. Not even offering his allowance. What's a boy to do? Luckily, he comes up with
the perfect solution: he decides to chill out on a spray of water over the whale's spout.
This colorful whale of a tale from the talented Joyce Wan is sure to inspire giggles from little guppies!
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Table of Contents
English Language Arts (ELA)
Reading Comprehension 4
There’s a What in your What?! 6
Writing Activities
How Did the Whale Get There? ~ creating a prequel
How Will the Bear Get Out? ~ creating a sequel 7
“Why My Pool?” Persuasive Essay
Writing Narrative and Dialogue 8
Speaking and Listening Activities 9
Choral Reading
Mime
Drama
Math 10
Word Problems
Will a Whale Fit?: Learning Capacity and Volume 11
How BIG is a Blue Whale?
Science 13
Whales Research Project
True Stories of Wayward Whales 14
How Do Animals Cool Off in the Summer? 15
Social Studies 16
When Life Gives You Lemons (or a Whale!)
Unusual Swimming Pools Around the World 17
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English Language Arts Reading Comprehension
Before reading The Whale in My Swimming Pool, help students identify the basic parts
of a picture book: jacket, front cover, back cover, title page, spine, end papers, and
jacket flap.
The Front Cover~
Describe the cover illustration. o Who are the characters? o Where do you think they are?
o What are they doing? Mimic what the characters are doing.
o How does it make you feel?
Can you guess what the story might be about? What are some clues you can
find in the cover illustration?
Explain that Joyce’s name is the only name on the cover because she is both the
author and the illustrator of The Whale in My Swimming Pool. What does an
author do? What does an illustrator do? What does it mean if there is an
author-illustrator?
Now read or listen to the book.
Help students summarize in their own words what the book was about.
What is the little boy excited to do at the beginning of the story?
What surprise does he find?
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Who does the little boy tell, in hopes of getting help?
o What is Mom’s reaction?
o Why do you think Mom reacts this way?
The little boy then tries several different ways to remove the whale from the
pool. Chart his attempts below.
Attempt # What the little boy tried
1 Close his eyes and count to ten
2 Push the whale
3 Reason with the whale “Why not the pool next door?”
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Just when the little boy is about to give up he thinks of an idea. What does he
do?
o Pretend to be the little boy in the inner tube. How does it make you feel?
At the end of the story, what surprise does the little boy find in his bed?
Can you come up with a list of possible
ways to get the bear out of the bed?
o If you were the little boy, what
would you do?
As a class, read the poem Bear in There by Shel
Silverstein (A Light in the Attic,1981).
Describe in your own words what the
poem is about.
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How is this poem similar to The Whale in My Swimming Pool?
How is it different?
The child in Bear in There does not try to remove the bear, like the little boy in
The Whale in My Swimming Pool. If you were the child in Bear in There, how
would you try to remove the bear?
o Rewrite Bear in There in the style of The Whale in My Swimming Pool, in
which the child tries many attempts to remove the bear. Feel free to use
many of the same attempts.
There’s a What in Your What?!
Using Wan’s illustrations in The Whale in My Swimming Pool as inspiration, draw your own silly situation.
o A turtle in my toaster o A walrus in my bathtub
o A sea lion in my dishwasher
One of the reasons why the illustrations for The Whale in My Swimming Pool are so funny is because of the absurdity of size.
Would it have been as funny if the story was The Ladybug in My Swimming Pool?
Probably not. So think of something that is too large to be in a smaller space.
Writing Activities
How Did the Whale Get There? ~ creating a prequel
Very few things are sillier than finding a large whale in a swimming pool. But some
students may question, “How did the whale get there?”
As a class, brainstorm some wacky possibilities as to how the whale came to be in the
boy’s backyard. What about the shark in the neighbor’s pool? The crazier the better.
Explain what a prequel is and have students create their own prequel to The Whale in
My Swimming Pool. Optional Story Starter: “It was a very
hot summer day, especially for a whale.”
OR
Create the story as a class and then have each
individual student create their own illustrations.
Each story should include a beginning, a middle
and an ending.
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How Will the Bear Get Out? ~ creating a sequel
Oh no! Now the little boy has a bear in his bed to
contend with. How in the world will he ever get him out?
As a class, brainstorm some wacky possibilities as to
how the little boy will get the bear out of the bed.
The crazier the better.
Explain what a sequel is and have students create their
own sequel of The Whale in My Swimming Pool.
Optional Story Starter: “It was naptime and a giant bear was
snoring in his bed. The little boy knew what he had to do.”
OR
Create the story as a class and then have each individual student create their own
illustrations.
Each story should include a beginning, a middle and an ending.
“Why My Pool?” Persuasive Essay
The little boy tries many different ways to persuade the whale to leave his pool. Ask
your students if they know what “persuade” means. If not, can they make any
guesses?
Discuss:
What it means to persuade
Times or situations in which you might want to persuade someone (i.e.,
persuade your parents to let you stay up late)
When you write to persuade, you are trying to convince the reader
to agree with you. Your persuasive essay should: tell the reader
what you believe; give the reader at least three reasons why you
believe it; have a good concluding sentence.
Students should pretend they are the little boy and write a
persuasive essay to the whale called “Why My Pool?” using the
following TREE structure:
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T = Topic sentences The topic sentence tells the reader (or whale,
in this case) what you think or believe.
Example: Why my pool, Mr. Whale? I think you
would be happier in the nice pool next door.
R = Reasons The reasons tell the reader (or whale, in this
case) why you believe he would be happier
next door. (Remember, you are writing as if
you are the little boy.) Write at least 2 -3
sentences supporting 3 reasons. Use evidence
directly from the text or illustrations, when
possible.
E = Ending Wrap it up with a conclusive sentence.
E = Examine Look closely. Does your essay have all the
necessary parts?
Share your essays with the class. Which is the most persuasive? Why do you think so?
Writing Narrative and Dialogue
The Whale in My Swimming Pool is written completely in dialogue or speech. All of the
text is things that the little boy (or Mom, at times) says. This provides a great
springboard to discuss narrative and dialogue in a story.
Narrative ~ An account of the connected events. Often through a narrator who
gives information on the feelings and actions of the story.
Speech/Dialogue ~ The written
conversational exchange between two or
more characters.
Rewrite The Whale in My Swimming Pool using
the following:
Add additional speech for the whale, in
which he responds to and is in
conversation with the little boy. Or, simply
create captions and thought-bubbles for
the whale in each spread.
Write a version of the story using only narrative. For example, “One day a little
boy raced outside to his pool. And there he found a whale.” Continue through
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the entire story like this, describing the action on each page without the use of
speech.
Combine the two versions into a new version of The Whale in My Swimming
Pool, in which the whale speaks and a narrator carries the action of the story.
How do the new versions compare with the original version of The Whale in My
Swimming Pool? Which do you prefer? Why?
Speaking and Listening Activities
Picture books are written to be read aloud. Here are some other ways to bring The
Whale in My Swimming Pool to life in your classroom and also have fun with speaking
and listening skills!
Choral Reading
Turn The Whale in My Swimming Pool into a script. (*see Writing Narrative and
Dialogue in ELA section for ideas). Read the script out loud together.
Emphasize memorization of the students' parts as well as good vocal expression.
Mime
While the teacher reads the book aloud, students can act out the events in the
book. Emphasize body motion and facial expressions, as well as listening skills.
Drama
Brainstorm a list of things of possible ways to get the whale out of the pool.
Without making noise, students act out something from the list in front of the
class. Ask the rest of the class to guess which action they are acting out.
Create a TV commercial to encourage people to read The Whale in My Swimming
Pool.
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Math
Word Problems For younger students, the use of pictures or props might be needed to figure out word
problems.
1) 5 little birds are playing on top of the whale. 1 flies away.
How many birds are playing on top of the whale?
5 – 1 = ?
2) The little boy nudges the whale 4 times but he doesn’t budge. The little boy
then nudges the whale 3 more times. How many times does the little boy nudge
the whale?
4 + 3 = ?
3) The little boy tries to play fetch with the whale. He gathers 6 sticks. He throws
1 stick. How many sticks does the little boy still have?
6 – 1 = ?
4) The whale makes water spout out of his blow hole 2 times. He then makes
water spout out his blow hole 1 more time. How many times does the whale
make water spout out of his blow hole?
2 + 1 = ?
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5) The little boy has 9 ideas to get the whale out of his swimming pool. He tries 7
ideas, but the whale is still in his swimming pool. How many ideas does the little
boy have left?
9 – 7 = ?
Will a Whale Fit?: Learning Capacity and Volume
Will a whale fit in a swimming pool? Will a bear fit in your bed? This activity helps
students learn capacity and volume.
For this activity you will need:
Several different sized and shaped containers
Dried beans
Students are to guess which containers will hold the most beans and which containers
will hold the least beans. Have students put the containers in order according to their
capacity. Once the class has agreed on the order, fill each container with beans, one at
a time. Count how many beans are in each container. Were they right about the
order?
How BIG is a Blue Whale?
Students can practice their predicting and measuring skills, while having fun learning
the size of a blue whale.
You will need:
100 feet of rope, twine or string
A large wall or hallway
Package of paper plates
Post-it notes
Roll of adding machine/receipt tape
1. Unravel the twine all the way (for the
full 100 feet) and mount on a wall
with tape.
2. Once the students see how long a blue whale is, ask them to predict how many
children it would take, stretched end-to-end, to fill the length of a blue whale.
3. Have students write down their predictions on a piece of paper.
4. Using strips of adding machine tape, measure each child's height and give each
student their strip of paper.
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5. Ask the students to write their name on their own strip of paper.
6. Tape the strips end to end on the wall along the twine. Have students count how
many strips it takes to make up the length of the whale.
7. See which students came closest to predicting correctly.
8. Now ask students to predict how many paper plates or post-it notes would make
up the size of the whale and repeat the activity.
9. As a culminating activity, have a discussion about size, using comparing and
contrasting to help them understand the enormous size of a whale.
a. Ask the students if they think a blue whale would fit in their house or car.
b. Ask students what else they think might be as big as a blue whale.
Further Activity:
Using the National Geographic interactive graphic found at
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/content/kingdom-of-the-blue-whale-
3302/blue-whale-facts/#/compare/length for inspiration, students can determine the
following comparisons for length and weight. Be sure to ask students to show their
work.
If a blue whale is 100 feet long,
A humpback whale is 50 feet long. How many humpback whales equal the length
of a blue whale?
A triceratops is 30 feet long. How many triceratops equal the length of a blue
whale?
A great white shark is 20 feet long. How many great whites equal the length of
a blue whale?
If a blue whale weighs 200 tons,
A school bus weighs 13 tons. How many school busses equal the weight of a
blue whale?
An elephant weighs 5 tons. How
many elephants equal the weight of a
blue whale?
A jumbo jet weighs 25 tons. How
many jumbo jets equal the weight of
a blue whale?
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Science
Whales Research Project
In case a whale ever shows up in your swimming pool, perhaps you should do a little
research.
Whales are divided into two categories: toothed whales and baleen whales.
As a class, warm up your library and computer research skills and determine the
differences between toothed and baleen whales. Use this time to model good
research techniques for the library and the Internet.
Create a master chart to record all of the information gathered about toothed
and baleen whales.
Then in smaller groups of 2-3, students will research a specific species of whale.
Blue whale
Gray whale
Bowhead whale
Fin whale
Humpback whale
Minke whale
Right whale
Sperm whale
Narwhal whale
Pilot whale
Beluga whale
Information to be gathered must include:
Type of whale: toothed or baleen
What it eats
Where it lives
Size of the whale
Draw a picture
Write 3 words that describe your whale
Interesting fact #1
Interesting fact #2
Interesting fact #3
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Once all of the needed research is done, students must create a poster visual with all of
the necessary information and present their findings to the class.
Further activity: Knowing what you know now about whales, how could the little boy in
The Whale in My Swimming Pool best take care
of his whale?
o What kind of whale do you
think it is? Toothed or baleen?
o What do you think it eats?
o Where does the whale belong?
o How big do you estimate the
whale to be?
True Stories of Wayward Whales
Sometimes in the news we hear stories of
whales stranded on a beach or in shallow water. Often these stories are met with
efforts to get the animal back into the water, occasionally with some success.
But how do these whales become lost? Or what makes a live whale beach itself?
Most whales use their own form of sonar and are sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field
– they use both of these to navigate and find their food.
Therefore, several things can affect these otherwise amazing skills.
Navigation error – whales and dolphins sometimes get lost as they use the
Earth’s magnetic fields to navigate the seas. There are a number of things (that
we don’t yet fully understand) that may cause the animals to become confused,
causing them to mis-read these magnetic lines and become lost.
Noise pollution – human-made noise from drilling, dredging, shipping, offshore
developments and seismic surveys can cause disorientation and distress.
Naval sonar – the effects of sound waves from submarines used by the military
(for detecting other submarines, ships etc) can disorientate whales and dolphins.
Some species are very social animals and travel in family groups following a
leader. If the group leader is sick and swims into shallow water, all the others
may follow and become stranded together.
(Information excerpted from the London Natural History Museum
http://nhm.ac.uk/kids-only/life/life-sea/whale-stranding/index.html)
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Contact the local aquarium or marine biologist and arrange one of the following:
o A tour of the aquarium. Learn how rescued sea life are cared for and prepared
for release.
o A Skype interview with an aquarium employee or marine biologist. Ask him/her
about real-life sea rescue stories.
o Discuss the pros and cons of re-release after rescue or captivity.
An Internet search can also find stories of wayward whale and whale rescue to share
with the class.
How do Animals Cool Off in the Summer?
The little boy in The Whale in My Swimming Pool
just wants to cool off and have some summer fun.
But maybe the whale is trying to cool off the from
summer heat, too.
Just like people, animals get overheated, too.
As a class, list all of the ways that people cool off
when it’s hot outside.
Once everyone’s ideas are listed, create a list of
ways that animals stay cool in the heat.
Visit the following two links for some very interesting facts:
National Wildlife Federation—7 Ways Animals Beat the Heat
http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-
wildlife/animals/archives/2010/animals_beat_the_heat.aspx
Smithsonian.com—From Panting to Pooping, 8 Weird Ways Animals Keep Cool
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/panting-pooping-8-weird-ways-
animals-keep-cool-180952226/?no-ist
Compare the lists for people and animals.
Do people pant?
Do animals sweat?
How many similarities can you find?
How many differences?
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Social Studies
When Life Gives You Lemons (or a Whale!)
Things don’t always go the way we want them to in life. Sometimes, in fact, life can be
unfair—like finding a whale in your swimming pool when you really want to swim!
Lead students in a class discussion on the phrase, “When life gives you lemons, make
lemonade.”
1. What do you think this saying means?
Not getting upset when things don’t go
our way.
Making the best of a difficult situation.
Coming up with another idea.
Thinking positively.
2. How does the little boy in The Whale in My
Swimming Pool demonstrate “making lemonade”?
3. How would you demonstrate “making lemonade” if…
You broke the wheel off your brother's new skateboard?
Your friend asks you to play and you haven't finished your homework?
You're playing a really fun game at your friend's house and it's time to go
home?
You promised your mom or dad you would clean your room but you just
don't feel like it?
It is time to go to bed and you just remembered that your book report is
due tomorrow?
You agreed to take care of your neighbor's dog while she is away, but
now a friend has invited you to a sleep over?
Your mom is not feeling well and could really use some extra help around
the house?
You forgot to bring your homework home from school, including the book
you need to study for tomorrow's test?
4. What are some other situations where we can demonstrate “making lemonade”?
5. Design a poster encouraging “making lemonade” to hang around the school.
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Further Activity: Did you know that whales are endangered? Do you know you can
demonstrate “making lemonade” and help?
Check out the following links from Save the Whales
• 10 Ways You Can Help Marine Life Every Day
http://www.savethewhales.org/you_can_do.html
• Adopt a Whale http://www.savethewhales.org/adopt.html
BONUS FUNDRAISER IDEA--Organize a lemonade stand to save the whales!
Unusual Swimming Pools Around the World
Discuss, as a class, how many students have swimming pools or have been to a
swimming pool.
Describe the swimming pool.
What do they like best about the
swimming pool?
What do they like least about the
swimming pool?
If they could add something to the
swimming pool to make it super cool
what would it be?
Assign a famous or unique pool for students to
research. A list of 8 are below, but do not feel
limited to those on the list.
The Orthlieb, or Big Splash (Morocco)
The Joule Hotel (Dallas, Texas)
Ocean Dome (Miyazaki)
The Wave Pool (Tokyo Summerland)
The Library Hotel (Koh Samui)
The Nemo diving pool (Belgium)
The Crown Towers Hotel (Taipa Island Macau)
Possible sources for information:
Nonfiction books
Encyclopedias
The Internet
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Take notes and gather as much information as possible on the following 6 topics:
History of when pool was built and who built it
Information about where the pool is located
Statistics
What makes this pool unique
Other fun facts
Once the information is gathered, work to create either an illustrated poster or booklet
of the findings.
BONUS: Design your own swimming pool! Be as creative and wacky as you want!